


don't wake me

by skywardPeregrine



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, actually i'm not really sure what this is haha..., sadstuckish?, sorry for being lame eep
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-08
Updated: 2012-07-08
Packaged: 2017-11-09 11:04:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/454735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skywardPeregrine/pseuds/skywardPeregrine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a post-SBURB universe, John discovers that his friends' lives weren't among the list of things that had been restored.  He gets a little (read: a lot) upset, and it is up to Karkat to make sure he continues living his life.  The author sucks at summaries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	don't wake me

 

Your name is John Egbert, and you’ve just awoken from the living hell known as SBURB.  You sit up and take in your surroundings.  You…you’re in your room, in your bed, with your posters on your walls in your house.  Was SBURB just a bad dream?  That…can’t be right.  Can it?  You hop out of bed and sit down in front of the computer, leaning forward until your nose is pressed against the screen in order to see it clearly.  You’ve forgotten to put your glasses on.  Oh well.  The more important thing is that none of your friends are online, which is something you find a little odd.  Usually either Dave or Jade is on at this time of day, and occasionally Rose, but then she’s on less than the other two.  What captures your attention, though, are the twelve new handles in your chumroll.  carcinoGeneticist, arachnidsGrip, gallowsCalibrator…The trolls.  They’re all idle, but you think maybe it’s because the game was what allowed you to contact them.  Or something like that.  It saddens you a bit to think that you’ll never talk to Karkat again, a feeling which surprises you.  All he’d ever done was yell at and insult you, but still…

Your friends still aren’t online. You’ve been sitting here for almost five minutes, staring at your screen, and they still aren’t on.  You jump as your computer beeps.  carcinoGeneticist is online.  Well, there goes that theory.  You quickly open a chat window and type a message.

 

— **ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 13:37** —

****

**EB: hey karkat.**

****

**CG: WHAT THE NOOKCHAFING FUCK DO YOU WANT?**

****

**EB: wow, rude. i thought maybe you'd wanna talk about...i dunno.**

****

**EB: maybe the fact that nobody other than you and me is online right now?**

****

**CG: THERE'S A VERY SIMPLE EXPLANATION FOR THAT, EGBERT, WHICH MAY NOT HAVE OCCURRED TO YOU.**

****

**CG: TROLLS ARE NOCTURNAL. AND RIGHT NOW IT IS MIDDAY.**

****

**CG: I KNOW, IT'S HARD FOR YOUR WEAK HUMAN THINKPAN TO GRASP, BUT TROLLS SLEEP DURING THE DAY.**

****

**CG: THE VERY IDEA OF GOING OUT IN THE DAYTIME IS SO FUCKING LUDICROUS I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE IT.**

****

**EB: you're online though. also, humans sleep at night, so that doesn't explain why dave, jade and rose aren't on!**

****

**CG: I'M ONLINE BECAUSE I DON'T SLEEP, FUCKHEAD.**

****

**EB: oh yeah, haha...**

****

**EB: but karkat, i am honestly really worried here.**

****

**EB: we assumed that beating the game would bring them back to life, but...did it?**

****

 

It must be explained here that over the course of the game, all of your friends but Karkat had been killed by Jack Noir.  The two of you had managed to finish the game, and you’d thought there was a life-reset or something at the end.  Now you’re terribly afraid that you were wrong.  You wait a long time for Karkat’s response, and when it comes, it does nothing to reassure you.

 

**CG: ...I DON'T KNOW, JOHN.**

**EB: ...**

**EB: karkat, how similar are trollian and pesterchum?**

**CG: ALMOST IDENTICAL, EXCEPT THAT TROLLIAN IS OBVIOUSLY WAY BETTER.**

**CG: WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?**

**EB: do you think there's a viewport feature?**

**CG: HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW?**

**EB: can you tell me how to set it up anyway?**

**CG: SURE, WHATEVER.**

 

As he walks you through the steps for setting up the viewport (you are relieved to find that Pesterchum does, in fact, have a viewport feature), he seems more reserved than usual.  You probably do, too.  But then, who wouldn’t be reserved after being forced to watch all their best friends die?  You finish with the viewport and send Karkat another message, telling him to hang on a second, before pulling up a chat window (and viewport) for each of your friends.  The viewports automatically zero in on your friends’ computers, but they don’t seem to be in their rooms…Before looking for them, though, you go to your bedside table and retrieve your glasses, because your eyes are starting to hurt.  After sitting back down, you begin adjusting each viewport until you’ve searched each room of your friends’ houses, your panic building as you realize they’re nowhere to be found.  _No…No…No…_ You message Karkat again, your hands shaking as you try to type.

 

**EB: they're not there**

**EB: they're not in their houses.**

**EB: they**

**EB: they didn't make it, did they.**

**CG: I.**

**CG: FUCK, JOHN.**

**CG: I'M SORRY.**

**CG: ...I GUESSED THEY MIGHT NOT.**

**EB: you WHAT?**

**EB: why the hell didn't you tell me, you asshole!**

**EB: fuck.**

**CG: I DIDN'T WANT THEM TO BE DEAD FOREVER EITHER, DUMBASS.**

**Cg: I WAS TRYING TO FOOL MY OWN FUCKING SELF INTO BELIEVING THEY'D BE ALL RIGHT.**

**EB: don't talk to me.**

— **ectoBiologist [EB] blocked carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 14:03** —

 

 

You don’t know why you’re so angry at Karkat.  You just are.  You turn off your computer and throw yourself onto your bed, trying to absorb the fact that you’re never going to see your friends again.  You can’t do it.  You stalk over to the door and go downstairs, unsure what you’re intending to do.  Halfway down the stairs you pause, a feeling of dread overcoming you as you remember that your dad is dead, that he died during the course of the game.  But as you stand, hesitating, on the stairs, you detect the familiar odor of baking, and rush down the last few steps and into your father’s waiting arms.  He knows you’re upset, but he doesn’t know why, and you aren’t going to tell him.  All you can do is cling to him and cry.

After you’ve cried yourself out, your father returns to his baking, and you return to your room.  He’d tried to talk to you about what’s wrong, but you’d sprinted back upstairs before he could question you too thoroughly.  Crawling onto your bed, you fall asleep almost as soon as your head touches the pillow.  This is how you discover that you dream of SBURB.  Technically they’re nightmares (you wake screaming from the worst ones), but you can’t get enough of them.  Your friends are in your nightmares, and even though most nights they die horribly, you still get to see them.  You take to sleeping during the day.

Your father is worried about you.  You know he’s noticed your disinterest in your regular activities.  You can’t stop though.  You feel too happy when you’re dreaming of your own death.  It’s not normal, you know it’s not.  You can’t help it.  Eventually even Karkat gets worried.  Your block doesn’t work, just like it didn’t work in the past.

— **carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling ectoBiologist [EB] at 17:35** —

**CG: EGBERT, GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT OF YOUR HUMAN BED AND DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE.**

**CG: HIBERNATING LIKE A FUCKING CHOLERBEAR ISN'T GOING TO HELP YOUR SITUATION.**

**CG: HEY, WAKE THE FUCK UP ALREADY YOU BULGEMUNCHING SACK OF SHIT.**

**CG: FINE, SLEEP FOREVER, SEE IF I CARE.**

**CG: ...I'M COMING OVER.**

— **carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling ectoBiologist [EB] at 17:35** —

**Author's Note:**

> um, well, i'm not really sure whether this counts as sadstuck! it doesn't seem particularly sad to me...also there is no johnkat yet but there will be! rated teen and up for karkat's foul mouth. i feel really weird posting fanfiction where anyone can see it, oh gosh. ;; also, the reason john's dad is still alive is because the game only brought back those who died who WEREN'T players. aka everyone except dave, jade, rose, and the eleven trolls who died.


End file.
